Its honeycombed plywood floor could support more than 4,000 pounds, approximately the glider's own empty weight. The CG-4A fuselage was 48 feet long and constructed of steel tubing and canvas skin. They didn't want anything coming up from underneath the plane to hit anything vital.' According to MacRae, 'Some of the guys found an extra flak jacket for me вЂ“ not to wear but to sit on. With no parachutes onboard, glidermen took pain to protect their pilots. Enemy fire on descent was constant, and many pilots were taken out before they could land. Air pockets and 40-mph winds created violent turbulence. There were four basic instruments on the control panel, which the pilots mistrusted. MacRae, who flew with the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron of the 316th Troop Carrier Group, said the glider had few provisions for passengers' safety and none for their comfort. The glider's spartan construction provided no insulation from the roar of the C-47 tow plane's engines, the pounding of the natural elements, and the din of enemy anti-aircraft fire, he said.

'For us it was louder than hell,' said pilot Donald MacRae, who flew troops into battle on D-Day and in the invasion of The Netherlands.

Inside the cockpit of the Waco GC-4A combat glider. But according to at least one veteran flight officer, the most common moniker for the combat glider was way off base: 'Silent Wings.' 'Flying coffins.' 'Tow targets.' Pilots and glider-borne infantry had colorful and well-earned nicknames for their ungainly planes. But in the pre-helicopter age, combat gliders represented the state-of-the-art in stealth, landing precision, and hauling capacity. Their moment in the spotlight of military aviation was fleeting. Yet their story is an obscure chapter in the Allied victory saga. These humble gliders вЂ“ engineless and unarmed вЂ“ overcame perilous odds to make the first cracks in Hitler's Fortress Europe. Under veil of darkness on D-Day and other major Allied airborne assaults, the Waco glider carried troops and materiel behind enemy lines to take out key enemy defenses and transportation links. America's first military stealth aircraft вЂ“ the Waco CG-4A combat glider вЂ“ silently soared into World War II history 70 years ago, powered only by the prevailing winds and the guts of the men who flew them.

Competetive units in men of war 2